Tag: Alan Goldfield

Or Mini Champs. McMansion Champs –McChamps! This could be why Alan Goldfield has decided to auction off the over the top dream chateau with the Chanel Boutique-replica closet etc. etc. that he has been trying to sell for almost ten years up there in Hictory Creek. A few weeks ago I found out that a chunk of Goldfield properties in Hickory Creek surrounding Champs were sold to Centurion American Development. As in the man I call Saint Stoneleigh, Mehrdad Moayedi, head of Carrollton-based property developer and investor Centurion American Development Group, who paid $4.55 million for the Stoneleigh Hotel.

Readers tell me the Centurion signs are up already:

I was driving home just now, I saw workers putting up the signs. A single “For Sale” sign still lingers in front of the guard shack at the entrance to Champs D’Or, along with 39 acres.

Centurion bought 1745 Turbeville Road, 20 acres that includes a 13,439 square foot house with six bedrooms, five and a half baths, three car garage listed for $5.6 million, which is exactly what it sold for according to MLS. The home also has a pool with cabana, sauna and kitchen in cabana, commercial grade construction and 3000 square feet of patios. Centurion also bought 1850 Turbeville Road, listed for $15 million, that being 116 acres including a 12,588 square foot home with five bedrooms, four and a half baths, billiard room, covered terraces, ten stall horse barn, log cabin home, riding corral and private lake loaded with ducks and geese. The game plan is, I think, to create a housing development here that may very well be called Gold Fields surrounding the House of Gold! Prices will begin in the $400,000 range with minimum square footage of 2500 square feet – most will likely be around 3000 to 4000. I got a whiff of a zoning change in Hickory Creek for single family homes, and that’s when this all came together. Centurion closed on the properties December 20, 2011.

The total acreage is 137, and if you get 3 homes per acre that’s about 400 homes. Of course, the existing homes could be converted to club houses, or just retained and sold, and that horse barn will be an attractive amenity. Plus all the homes will surround and gaze upon the golden pinnacle of twenty-first century Real Estate dreams, or, perhaps nightmares: Champ D’Or.

As one reader speculated:

Rumor is, Texas will legalize gambling in the near future and the Champ will be bought by an Indian tribe or mega-church and turned into a casino or bingo hall. Plenty of parking, looks like a casino, easy access to I-35, tax revenue, it’s all there.

He teases us, obviously. But I could see Prestonwood Baptist buying the place to revive those amazing Christmas pageants maybe, recall the ones with live camels? Will Centurion pick up Champ at the auction next month as the ultimate club house for his new development? If not, who will and what will they put there? How will that fit into the housing development plans? Surely it will not become, as one writer speculated, the best little tear down in Texas? Will The House of Gold eventually be surrounded by starter homes from DR Morton, Megatel, Gehan, Seina, etc? Maybe Alan Goldfrield is a shrewd businessman, bluffing? This could be the most interesting real estate story to hit North Texas in years… stay tuned.

I have been sitting (or rather, skiing) on this news for about a week now, verifying. Listing agent Joan Eleazer with Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s has confirmed that Champ D’Or, the 48,000 square foot Turbeville Road mansion up in Hickory Creek, near Denton, French baroque castle meets Plano McMansion dream chateau, clearly the most outrageous home in Dallas, or rather, North Texas, will be auctioned off March 30.

Not sure yet what Champ’s reserve will be — that’s the “base price” that a seller agrees to sell for before the auction, so you don’t end up giving a $32 million property away for like $3 million because, let’s face it, we’d all want that! I need to dial up Pat Kirby at Grand Estate Auctions for Auction Review 101 — Pat just sold a home in Lahaina, Hawaii for $4.48 million. There were 13 bidders from Canada to Florida. The home had been on the market for three and a half years!

Champ D’Or has been on the market since the day it was completed in 2002, priced from $72 million to $35 million, depending on the land tossed into the deal, the market, or the owners’ whim. You could open a boutique agency with all the agents who have listed (and $$$ marketed!) Champ, the latest being Joan who was also, ironically, the first. The owners of the property are Alan and Shirley Goldfield, he the cellphone mogul, she the one who re-created Chanel’s Paris boutique in her master closet: it is outfitted with 18K gold doorknobs, a vanity with an antique chair purchased in France, a $30K custom gold chandelier, made in Florence, a custom iron railing modeled after the famed mirrored one in the Chanel store on Rue de Cambon in Paris, and a $10K custom area rug with the brand’s intersecting-C logo.

“When I built this closet, I tried to think of everything that I would need,” Goldfield told HGTV when they filmed the closet.

Champ has been on every media outlet that exists, too!

Full disclosure: I took Champ to Pebble Beach Concourse D’Elegance this summer, and it was the most talk-about home at the car show. Yes, it even turned the head of Jay Leno!

Champ D’Or is ten years old this year, and is probably the only 48,000 square foot house in the world that has never been lived in. The price includes, we think, the main house, a pool and tennis house, outdoor swimming pool, tennis court, adjacent lake, and up to 25 acres of beautiful treed property. Upon turning into the beautiful esplanade that leads to the front of the property, matching guardhouses direct one into the treed mega mega acreage. Beautifully landscaped and meticulously maintained by trained staff even though the house is still technically vacant, the grounds offer vistas, including a 1½ acre lake to the west of the main house. There is a large garden room that may be used for year round entertaining which stretches across the rear of the home and opens to a veranda that can seat 450 people.

The east wing of the home is comprised of the men’s and women’s powder rooms (yes, plural) and an exceptional master suite. Here are the goodies in that suite: a breakfast bar, wet steam room, weight room and master bath with a two-story Chanel styled closet for her and equally lavish man’s closet, as well as a private hair salon. Off the master there is an indoor ionized lap pool.

On the second level there is a theater/media room with lobby and access via the east elevator. Then there’s the Wedgewood suite: a living area with fireplace, bedroom with breakfast bar, luxurious guest bath, and adjacent laundry room. A second suite has 2 bedrooms, each with a private bath, and is perfect for guests with young children.

The third floor has a lovely ballroom complete with men’s and ladies powder rooms (again, plural), a catering kitchen, and incredible storage. There is also a third floor suite with living room, dining room, full kitchen and 2 bedrooms with separate baths.

The lower level is comprised of a 2 lane bowling alley, full racquet ball court, garage which can house 10-15 cars, laundry room with commercial washer and dryer and sheet press, wine room, and gift wrap room. You could eat off the floor in that garage. There are two elevators in the home, 130 tons of heat and air, and an office area on the second floor of the library.

According to a great story in D CEO, one of my favorite magazines, Champ is “The Best Little Teardown in Texas”. A financial firm named The Stanford Group (heard of them?) once made a serious play to provide Goldfield’s company, Cellstar, $25 million in needed capital. Cellstar’s board refused to reply to the offer, and the deal never went through. Just think what might be happening to that house if they had accepted that moola. Alan Goldfield is a telecommunications billionaire, hence some also call this the House that Talk built. I’ve heard rumors that Mehrdad Moayedi, head of Carrollton-based property developer and investor Centurion American Development Group, who paid $4.55 million for the Stoneleigh Hotel, made an offer that the Goldfields found too low. Oh oh, I’m giving away my next story…

Champ D’Or. If you have lived in Dallas for at least three years, you know all about the Turbeville Road mansion up in Hickory Creek, near Denton. It’s a 35,000 square foot, French baroque castle meets Plano McMansion dream chateau. This spread has been priced from $72 million to $35 million, and on the market since the day it was completed in 2002, pricing depending on the land tossed into the deal, the market, or the owners’ whim. You could open a boutique agency with all the agents who have listed (and marketed!) Champ, the latest being Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s Joan Eleazer. The owners of the property are Alan and Shirley Goldfield, he the cellphone mogul, she the one who re-created Chanel’s Paris boutique in her master closet: it is outfitted with 18K gold doorknobs, a vanity with an antique chair purchased in France, a $30K custom gold chandelier, made in Florence, a custom iron railing modeled after the famed mirrored one in the Chanel store on Rue de Cambon in Paris, and a $10K custom area rug with the brand’s intersecting-C logo.

“When I built this closet, I tried to think of everything that I would need,” Goldfield tolf HGTV when they filmed the closet.

Full disclosure: I took Champ to Pebble Beach Concourse D’Elegance this summer, and it was the most talk-about home at the show.

Champ D’Or is ten years old this year, and is probably the only 35,000 square foot house in the world that has never been lived in.

Newsflash: Owners Alan and Shirly Goldfield have sold off some of the homes and dirt SURROUNDING Champs, and word is Alan might even be willing to go lower on the latest list price, $35,000,000.

That McMansion sized price includes the main house, a pool and tennis house, outdoor swimming pool, tennis court, adjacent lake, and up to 25 acres of beautiful treed property. Upon turning into the beautiful esplanade that leads to the front of the property, matching guardhouses direct one into the treed mega mega acreage. Beautifully landscaped and meticulously maintained by trained staff even though the house is still technically vacant, the grounds offer lovely vistas, including a 1½ acre lake to the west of the main house. There is a large garden room that may be used for year round entertaining which stretches across the rear of the home and opens to a veranda that can seat 450 people.

The east wing of the home is comprised of the men’s and women’s powder rooms (yes, plural) and an exceptional master suite. Here are the goodies in that suite: a breakfast bar, wet steam room, weight room and master bath with a two-story Chanel styled closet for her and equally lavish man’s closet, as well as a private hair salon. Off the master there is an indoor ionized lap pool.

On the second level there is a theater/media room with lobby and access via the east elevator. Then there’s the Wedgewood suite:a living area with fireplace, bedroom with breakfast bar, luxurious guest bath, and adjacent laundry room. A second suite has 2 bedrooms, each with a private bath, and is perfect for guests with young children.

The third floor has a lovely ballroom complete with men’s and ladies powder rooms (again, plural), a catering kitchen, and incredible storage. There is also a third floor suite with living room, dining room, full kitchen and 2 bedrooms with separate baths.

The lower level is comprised of a 2 lane bowling alley, full racquet ball court, garage which can house 10-15 cars, laundry room with commercial washer and dryer and sheet press, wine room, and gift wrap room. You could eat off the floor in that garage. There are two elevators in the home, 130 tons of heat and air, and an office area on the second floor of the library.

According to a great story in D CEO that named Champ “The Best Little Teardown in Texas”, a financial firm named The Stanford Group (heard of them?) once made a serious play to provide Goldfield’s company, Cellstar, $25 million in needed capital. Cellstar’s board refused to reply to the offer, and the deal never went through. Just think what might be happening to that house if they had accepted that moola. Alan Goldfield is a telecommunications billionaire, hence some also call this the House that Talk built. I think it would be the perfect venue for a plastic surgery center where you could check in, get your nip/tuck, then recuperate just 20 minutes from DFW on a good traffic day.